According to Sandro, it’s only going to make his revenge all the sweeter after he wins the season-six tournament and gets a shot at Curran’s belt.

“I loved watching Pat Curran become the Bellator featherweight world champion because now I know I can fight him one more time,” Sandro told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The opportunity to fight Pat again motivates me every single day in the gym.”

Sandro (21-3 MMA, 4-1 BFC) has carried that motivation into the current season-six tourney. He recently submitted Roberto Vargas in an opening-round matchup and now meets Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra (13-1 MMA, 5-0 BFC) in the semifinals at Friday’s Bellator 64 event. The show takes place at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Sandro vs. Vargas is one of four main-card bouts airing on MTV2 following prelims on Spike.com.

Sandro, who suffered a violent head-kick KO loss to Curran in the August finale, was stung by the defeat – which marked the first time he had been stopped in eight years of pro competition. But it also forced him to refocus as he entered the latest eight-man field and his opening-round matchup.

“Without a doubt, my loss to Pat Curran motivated me during my victory over Roberto Vargas,” he said. “I want my rematch with Pat, and to get my rematch, I have to win this tournament.”

However, the former World Victory Road/Sengoku champion and ex-King of Pancrase has his hands full with Bezerra, who’s riding an eight-fight win streak with five consecutive victories in Bellator. All of the wins have come via stoppage, including a second-round submission of Kenny Foster in their tourney opener.

“I have a lot of respect for ‘Popo’ Bezerra,” said Sandro, a member of the famed Nova Uniao team. “He is a really good fighter, so I have to respect him. At the same time, I know I can beat him. I just don’t know how I will beat him. But I’ll know once we enter that cage, for sure.”

Bezerra, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, has twice as many submissions as knockouts on his record. But Sandro, a black belt, has more knockouts than submissions. Sure, we haven’t seen Sandro register a knockout since he won the Sengoku title from Masanori Kanehara in 2010, but many fans of the Japanese-MMA scene fondly remember his string of highlight-reel knockouts before he joined Bellator.

Sandro believes those striking skills again will be on display this weekend.

“I definitely believe that I have the power in my hands to knock ‘Popo’ out,'” he said. “I just have to connect with the right punch, and the fight will be over.

“I definitely don’t see this fight making it to the judges. I plan on being the only judge when I fight ‘Popo.’ I will finish him before the start of the third round.”

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.